Many Christians, unfortunately, often talk about doing something for the kingdom of God. They talk about "building" the kingdom of God, "advancing" the kingdom of God, or "extending" the kingdom of God. They attempt to do this by pursuing a particular political agenda, or through evangelism and missionary work. Regardless of how they attempt to do it, they think that the kingdom of God is something that they accomplish. If they build it, He will come.
However, that is not the least bit biblical. The Christian is called to do no such thing.
Establishing the kingdom is something that God does—not something that the Christian is supposed to do. None of the work of Christians will ever bring about the kingdom of God. You can work until you are blue in the face and the kingdom of God will not be any closer than it was before. The kingdom will only be established at the final consummation at the end of time. What is the Christian called to do?
"Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." Matt. 6:10
Jesus made this one of the main petitions He taught His disciples in His example of how they ought to pray. Christians are to pray for the coming of the kingdom. Especially in their own lives. The Disciple's Prayer should be our first clue in understanding God's role and our role in bringing about the kingdom of God. We pray for the kingdom because we are totally, utterly, and completely dependent upon God to establish it.
We start praying for the kingdom of God to come through our prayers of repentance and faith. Before we can pray that it would come to anyone else, we must pray for it to come to us. Our prayer for the kingdom to come first begins with our confessing our sins. We come into the kingdom by repentance and faith. The kingdom must be in us before we can be in the kingdom (John 3:3, 5). If we want to see the kingdom come, we must ask the Holy Spirit to make us born again.
Apart from praying for the kingdom of God to come, what is the only thing that a Christian is required to be doing?
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matt. 6:33
Worrying is useless, worthless, and Godless. All the worry in the world will accomplish nothing. Worry does not gain a thing; it always robs us of things. It steals our time, our rest, our obedience, our hope, etc. Jesus told us not to worry about anything but to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness." We are to pursue the kingdom in our own lives first. "Your kingdom come" should not just be our daily prayer, but it should also be our daily way of life.
Are you pursuing the kingdom? Are you living it out in your life?